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Shaolin monk denies claims his temple taught kung fu
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A MONK from China’s Shaolin Temple yesterday said the temple never taught kung fu for money, and that the American who said it did had confused the temple with nearby kung fu schools.
Matthew Polly said in his memoir “American Shaolin” that the Shaolin Temple’s abbot Shi Yongxin accepted him as his first foreign student after taking 1,111 yuan (US$181) as a gift. He claims to have paid an annual tuition fee of US$1,300 to learn kung fu at the Shaolin Temple Martial Arts Center and suggested that some monks in the temple are gay.
The book stirred controversy after excerpts of the Chinese version were uploaded to the Internet earlier this month.
Shi Yanchong, a monk with the Shaolin Intangible Asset Management Center, said, that judging from his book, Polly could not tell the difference between the Shaolin Temple and nearby commercial martial arts schools, adding the so-called “Shaolin monks” are simply laymen who cheat people out of their money.
“He (Polly) is a foreigner who loves Chinese kung fu, but he was probably misled,” Shi Yanchong said, adding that monks never work in martial art schools.
“No martial arts halls or centers with the name ‘Shaolin Temple’ have any connection with the Songshan Shaolin Temple, the temple said in a statement.
“Songshan Shaolin Temple has never recruited any students, and improper conduct by martial art schools has nothing to do with the temple,” it said.
Located on Songshan Mountain in central China’s Henan Province, the 1,500-year-old temple is regarded as the cradle of Chinese kung fu.
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